Dr. Old Bill

WOO HOO!!!! Funding concerns aside, this is HUGE news! And you also get the distinction of being the first of our little Grad Cafe cohort to feel the exhilaration of acceptance! You should now start the inevitable "2015 Acceptances" thread. I'm seriously thrilled for you, little Bat -- congratulations!

Oh crap. I was indeed talking about letter-writers instead of POIs. I've gone ahead and downvoted myself for that. HOWEVER, I did indeed have a POI ask me for my WS and my SOP, which ultimately supports my point that it's not rare at least.

Just a thought, but even an "Incomplete" would be preferable to an F. If you're an otherwise good/great student, there should be options, and if I were you, I wouldn't rest until I was certain that they were all exhausted.

Yep, as with Proflorax says, it's fine to have some biography, so long as it's relevant to your academic interests. Mine (as Proflorax can affirm first-hand!) starts off with how my background as a poet led directly to my interest in academia. The first draft of my SOP was a bit too heavy on the biography, but with the help of a few current grad students who recently went through the application process themselves (ahem), I managed to make the transition between personal/biographical and professional/academic interests far more natural, and perhaps even logical. Just don't talk about how ever since you started reading at the age of two, you've had a passion for literature, and and how you have always been fascinated by the written word ever since your grandmother read you snippets of Tom Sawyer just months before she died.

If you've gone ahead and completed a Master's in English and done very well, I don't see how your Engineering mishaps will affect you. You'll want to mention it on your SOP...but honestly, that sounds like a great entree into your statement! I could even envision a transition statement like "It occurred to me that I was far better at Engineering college papers than closed circuits..." From what I've read (here and elsewhere), a Master's goes a long way toward eradicating blemishes in undergrad. And considering that your undergrad was in a completely different discipline, it should make you more of an interesting candidate to an adcomm than an unsavory one. But you do need to mention it in your SOP, I think. And in my completely subjective opinion, you should frame the start of your SOP around it.

Very. One of my letter-writers wanted my WS and SOP. Two wanted just my SOP. One wanted neither. Samples of work is par for the course, I think. C.V. might be a little more unusual, but one of the rarely-mentioned aspects of the application is indeed the C.V. -- most applications want a C.V. or resume in addition to the other, more familiar, elements.

Yes, I would say that focusing on M.A. programs might be your best bet. One of the chief expectations on a SOP for Ph.D. programs is outlining a proposed course of study, which should be relatively specific and unique. That expectation doesn't seem to be quite so strong with M.A. programs. It's really a case of one degree being more advanced than the other. Roughly speaking, you can look at the B.A. as a "beginner" level, with the M.A. an "intermediate" level, and the Ph.D. an "advanced" level. You only want to take the advanced option if you're confident you have the chops to handle it with aplomb. This speaks nothing about one's character -- it just speaks to one's preparedness. I'm old and have a lot of life experience, not to mention a lot of knowledge about my proposed course of study, and a good idea about what I want to do. For me, it just wouldn't make sense to apply to M.A. programs, unless it was as a "last resort." For others, the M.A. makes a hell of a lot more sense. And if you have any uncertainty about your future path, the M.A. is probably the most logical step. It might cost some money (or the funding might be less, as it were), but it will also allow you to hone in on your interests in a way that the B.A. could not, and the Ph.D. simply doesn't allow for.

It might not be a death knell, per se, but it would need to be explained at length in your SOP. If the rest of your grades are high, and your GPA isn't brought down too low by the F, then I suspect that you might still be able to carry on. Out of curiosity, are you on good terms with the professor who gave you an F? Most professors are loath to hand out failing grades. Usually they'll work with you to rectify the situation. I recall one professor of mine saying in advance of the mandatory final essay "If you don't get it done, just hand in a blank piece of paper with your name and the assignment header on it...that way I can at least give you a completion mark." If it's truly past the point where anything can be done about the grade, perhaps you can at least get a letter from the prof, attesting to the quality of your work up until that point. If you were a reasonably good student, and the professor is a reasonably good person, I wouldn't be surprised if he/she would write a blurb on your behalf in that vein. Either way, I reiterate that I don't think (but cannot know) that this is a certain end-of-the-line issue. It complicates things, to be sure, but if it can be reasonably explained, you might find some sympathetic adcomms out there. They're all human, after all, and are well aware of the pressures of deadlines etc. Good luck!

Actually, there are practical reasons for saving as a .pdf as well. Any formatting gremlins are basically eradicated. There was one early instance where I noticed a .docx I had uploaded had some issues. Word is notorious for that, really. You can look at a document in Word, and print it off, and it will all be fine...but when you upload it somewhere, something can go awry. So since then, I've just used CutePDF to essentially "print" to a .pdf file. I was kind of fortunate with my WS in that I made it right around 15 pages, meaning that I only needed to augment it just a little bit for one or two applications. It never hurts to contact a DGS or Graduate Coordinator though -- one place says "Around 25 pages" but I checked, and they affirmed that they'd take 15-20 pages as well. It's much easier to chop than add, after all.

Yes, I'm in the same boat. I wanted my Yale application to be 15 pages including the back material. I'm sure it wouldn't have been an issue if it was 16 or 17 pages, given the amorphous nature of page counts vis-a-vis appendices and references, but I figure that since there's no pre-set standard other than page count for the WS, a minor formatting tweak or two isn't remiss. For instance, changing Times New Roman 12 pt to Arial 12 pt adds about a page and a half to a 15-page document. Surely there will be some applicants who submit their 15 pages in Times New Roman 12 pt, just as there will be some who submit in Arial 12 pt. This means that the page counts will be the same, but the Times New Roman person will be able to pack in another 500 words or so. I made a conscious decision (thanks to a Grad Cafe thread) to change my SOP and WS from Times to Arial for the second half of my applications. This had the partially welcome, partially unwelcome effect of expanding my page counts. Tweaking to make things easy to read and within the guidelines is just as much of a kindness to adcomms as it is to you, I think. Oh, and yes -- make everything a .pdf before you upload it. It just makes sense.

Great topic! I started out the same way most of you did, most likely -- started reading at an early age, preferred books to sports for the most part etc. I also started writing poetry at a very early age as well. In rhyme, no less. I can still remember the first few lines of a poem I wrote when I was ten: "A deer stood by, flickering its nose / Its tail taut, its body froze." Not exactly Pulitzer material, but hey, it rhymed and even had meter! Throughout high school, my writing of poetry turned into writing of lyrics, as I was in a few rock bands along the way (and I thought I could sing). I also played piano, drums, and dabbled in a few other instruments, also writing songs. I was a bit of a lazy high school student, but English and English Literature were by far my favorite classes. I recall only getting Bs in them, but I can remember saying to others at the time something along the lines of "I may not be an ace student, but I guarantee this material will stick with me more than for most of my fellow students." And I was right. My life took me in a bunch of different directions in my late teens and twenties, but through it all I kept my reading of literature and writing of poetry as a major avocation, to the point that I became relatively "successful" as a poet. It was after I immigrated to the U.S. five years ago that I discovered (thanks to the erstwhile support of my wife, and her parents who are both professors) that I could, in fact make my avocation a vocation. I'd had a couple of vocational degrees, but formalizing my love of literature and poetry has been one of the best decisions of my life, and these last few years have been among my happiest. It just feels good to be on a long and fulfilling path. I don't think any of us would be doing this if we didn't love it, to some degree...and that's certainly the case for me. I could easily get into deeper, more personal details as to why I came to this decision in my thirties, but suffice it to say that experience is indeed a great teacher as well.

1.9 for Yale you say? I wonder what will be thought of someone with a 1.8. I don't know who would be daft enough to do that, of course. No idea.

I really don't think there's any way any of us can answer this main question for you. It's pretty late in the game to be figuring out programs to apply to. Are you looking at M.A. or Ph.D. programs? Are there any scholars in your chosen field who you would like to work with? Do you have a long-term plan for why you're applying to grad school? As to your other question, if you send an 8-page paper to a program that asks for 10-15 pages, that's probably not a good idea. If you send a 13-page paper to a program that says "around 15 pages," then you might be okay. But the bottom line is that you should contact program coordinators / or the DGS at each program to find out how flexible they are. Just remember that the majority of applicants will have page lengths within the guidelines, so it might raise an eyebrow or two if you send in something shorter. Your GRE and GPA numbers are "fine." Not good enough to boost your application, but probably not mediocre enough to keep you out of a program if your interests / fit / SOP / WS / LORs etc. show you to be an otherwise strong candidate.

Ruh roh. Mea culpa time. I just checked, and I did not, in fact, send Harvard paper transcripts. Looks like I must have been thinking of somewhere else when I made that post a month ago. So my sincere apologies for that. Hopefully it didn't cause you any undue stress. Incidentally, despite being a generally meticulous person, the other day while going through my submitted applications to make sure one of my letter-writers' LOR was uploaded properly, I noticed that Rutgers requires hard copies of transcripts...and I didn't realize that at the time of submission. In other words, it's always good to triple- and quadruple-check (quintuple? Sextuple?) application requirements, even after you've submitted an application. I plan on doing yet another sweep through of all of them at some point soon, just to be sure. But again...sorry for the snafu, folks.

That is the most exciting thing I have heard all day! Really pulling for you, little Bat!

Incidentally, I find that watching hockey helps. I'm sure one can insert a sport of choice in place of hockey, but let's face it...hockey is the best. I used to be a mostly partisan fan who only watched his home team, but since I've lived away from my "hometown" for nearly five years, I've come to enjoy watching any good matchup. The nice thing with having Center Ice (or presumably any sports package) is that you can just sit down and enjoy a period or two, then go back to doing your work.

Thanks guys! I truly wasn't sure, so this makes me feel good and confident about doing the whole FAFSA thing again. So do we simply list all the grad schools we've applied to in the appropriate section? I'll have time on my hands in the first few weeks of January, so I'm guessing I'll bang it out then.

I LOVE Unraed's post. I couldn't resonate more with the "swinging between two poles" comment. It's rather amazing how bipolar this process can make you! And it's always the little things that set your mind to doubting. For instance, a couple of weeks ago I went for a drink with one of my letter-writers. He and I have a fantastic rapport, and he is certainly an erstwhile supporter who, no doubt, wrote me a strong LOR. Almost everything he talked about with regard to my application was positive...yet there were two very minor points he made: one was that there has already been a fair amount of scholarship done in the realm of my proposed course of study, and the other was that there was a slight (very slight) malapropism in my SOP -- I used "scholastic" where I probably should have used "scholarly." He mentioned that "scholastic" sometimes has a pejorative quality. So of course, out of all the things we talked about over a delightful hour and a half, what is it I am thinking about? "Scholastic" and the generality of my proposed course of study!! This despite him saying I should be a strong candidate, and that he'll write a letter that will make me look "hot" to adcomms (to which I replied that my wife tries to make me look "hot" all the time, to no avail). Frankly, I'm rather glad that I've got a busy semester right now. My mind has been wandering a bit more than usual lately, which is unfortunate when you're trying to close-read two novels simultaneously, but at least when I'm occupied, I'm not obsessing over things I have no control over. Oh, and despite my copious comments across several Grad Cafe threads on the lack of importance of high GRE scores, my mind cannot help but return to those unrepresentative, lower-than-I'd-like figures. Despite their relative unimportance, they're likely the weakest part of my application. Oh, and even sillier... I got an associate's degree from a 2-year community college before transferring to an admittedly well-regarded 4-year institution. I had a perfect GPA at the community college, and so far at my current college I have a strong GPA (low end of summa cum laude level), but on my transcript, the GPA doesn't factor in the GPA of all of the transferred courses. As a result, on my applications, adcomms will see the lower GPA first. Most don't have a field where you plug in your total undergraduate GPA -- they're kept separate by institution. Logically speaking, this is all incredibly minor...and yet it's the kind of thing that plays on my mind! Most of all, I feel sorry for my poor wife, who has to hear me air my application neuroses on a day-to-day basis. She's as supportive as a significant other can be, but it will be a minor miracle if she doesn't tear half of her hair out by mid-February. Or mine, for that matter. *exhale*

Hey folks, This very well may be a dumb question, but I can't seem to find the answer anywhere. Like many (or most) of us, I funded much of my undergrad with student loans. These are deferred for six months after undergraduate graduation. I'm wondering -- if you get into a funded graduate program (or are expecting to) do you / should you still fill out the FAFSA paperwork? If so, do you simply list all grad schools you've applied to (if you're doing FAFSA early), or...what? Also, I'm guessing that additional funding through FAFSA is strongly discouraged, but is it even possible? (I'm not saying that I'll personally need more funding than any stipend, but it's good to know regardless). Just one of those things I've been wondering about lately.

I'm starting to feel the first twinges of stress. Fortunately I've already got all of my applications off, so it's too late to start actively second-guessing things, but considering that I rarely feel stressed, it's a little odd to me to have that feeling now of all times. I'm hoping it doesn't get worse the closer we get to February, so yes...some nice de-stressing tips would be helpful! I just can't stop thinking about how my whole future life is riding on getting accepted to a Ph.D. program. I was completely confident with all aspects of the application process, and am still confident that I'm a solid candidate...yet now that I'm essentially "idle" on the whole applying-to-grad-school front, I can't help but reflect on the ramifications of not getting in etc. Just one of those silly things that humans do, I suppose! And now I want Chinese food.

Nope, AW doesn't seem to matter much. 4.0 is fine. After all, they'll have a lengthy sample of your analytical writing right there in front of them. 160-165 verbal is perfectly fine too. Good enough to apply pretty much anywhere, at least.

I don't have much to add except for a unilateral endorsement of Unraed's comments above. I have a line in my SOPs about my plan to "learn Italian prior to matriculation, which shouldn't be difficult given my current reading knowledge of Spanish." Or something like that. It's just a line, but what it does is remind them that I already have one language, and show that I'm aware that learning Italian is almost essential to my proposed course of study. It also has the subliminal aspect of showing them that I'm proactive, and am not just going to wait until I start their program before I begin to learn the language. But if languages aren't a big part of your proposed studies, it's probably not too important to highlight any you can read / speak as -- like Unraed says -- it's all going to be in front of them on the form portion of your application anyhow.

Yeah, there are a few programs I applied to that imply (at least, this is how I take it): "If you did really well on your GRE subject test and you want us to know, then please, by all means, send it! But if you didn't do well, we don't really want to see it." Suffice it to say, I only sent my score to the places that required it.

It's pricey, but I'd say it's worth a retake. Others might completely disagree though. My total score is 310 (yep, I suck at math too!), and even though it should be a "safe" score, I occasionally consider retaking it.